Bill Clinton calls for tough response on MH17 and pays tribute to lost HIV researchers

Former United States president says the world should not shy away from
confronting those responsible for the Malaysian Airlines atrocity

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton greets conference attendees the 20th International AIDS Conference Photo: Getty Images

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney

10:21AM BST 23 Jul 2014

Bill Clinton has paid tribute to the HIV researchers and campaigners who died aboard MH17, telling a global AIDS summit in Australia that the world must take a firm stand against those responsible.

The former United States president painted a stark contrast between the brutality of those who attacked the Malaysia Airlines plane and the pioneering work of AIDS researcher Joep Lange and his wife and four other campaigners who were aboard.

"He [Dr Lange] and the five other colleagues we lost lived lives which are overpowering in their contribution to a shared future," Mr Clinton told the summit in Melbourne.

"Those who shot them down and who provided the means to do so represent the other side in our struggle to define the terms of our interdependence: the open hand against the clenched fist, inclusive politics and economics versus division and dominance, cooperation against control, life against death."

Mr Clinton said he was moved by the comments of Dutch foreign minister Frans Timmermans, who told the United Nations he was plagued by thoughts of the final moments of the 298 passengers aboard MH17.

"[He] took my breath away when he speculated about what the last moments of those people must have been like," he said.

"I hope that all of our countries who value freedom and honour will look at the statement made yesterday by the Dutch foreign minister before they give in to the temptation to say, 'Well, maybe we should weaken our resolve to make a strong stand because after all they didn't mean to shoot 'this' plane down'."

Mr Clinton told the conference that 20,000 children a month are infected by HIV and the world needed to improve early detection to prevent transmissions. But he said he believed an AIDS-free generation was within reach.

"The AIDS-free world that so many of you have worked to build is just over the horizon,” he said. “We just need to step up the pace.”